Sumitomo Realty

Slowdown Not Seen as Threat to Big Developments: Tokyo's sluggish commercial property market has hit Japan's major real estate firms hard but will not stop them from going ahead with major development projects, company executives say. While demand has slipped with the economic slowdown, they see it remaining strong over the mid- and long-term, ensuring high occupancy and rising rents. "Compared with other major cities, there is a chronic shortage of (large) office buildings in Tokyo.

A $14-million renovation of the Park Hyatt Los Angeles hotel in Century City has been completed by owners Sumitomo Realty & Development. The 17-story hotel on Avenue of the Stars opened in 1988 and holds a four-diamond rating from Mobil AAA. The renovation included upgrades to the 366 guest rooms and a lobby redesign by architect Culpepper, McAuliffe, Meaders Inc. of Atlanta.

A $14-million renovation of the Park Hyatt Los Angeles hotel in Century City has been completed by owners Sumitomo Realty & Development. The 17-story hotel on Avenue of the Stars opened in 1988 and holds a four-diamond rating from Mobil AAA. The renovation included upgrades to the 366 guest rooms and a lobby redesign by architect Culpepper, McAuliffe, Meaders Inc. of Atlanta.

Slowdown Not Seen as Threat to Big Developments: Tokyo's sluggish commercial property market has hit Japan's major real estate firms hard but will not stop them from going ahead with major development projects, company executives say. While demand has slipped with the economic slowdown, they see it remaining strong over the mid- and long-term, ensuring high occupancy and rising rents. "Compared with other major cities, there is a chronic shortage of (large) office buildings in Tokyo.

Another choice piece of Los Angeles real estate--the newly opened, luxury J. W. Marriott Hotel in Century City--has been quietly sold to a Japanese realty and development firm for $85 million. Sumitomo Realty of New York purchased the 375-room, 17-story building and certain leases on the property, according to Jonathan Q. Loeb, general manager of the J. W. Marriott. However, Marriott Corp. of Bethesda, Md., retains ownership of the land and continues to manage the luxury facility as a Marriott.

Orange County will soon join Dallas in the limelight of a television series. The success of the new series, however, will not be measured in Nielsen ratings but in the yen it can attract; the show is targeted for Japanese businessmen. The three-hour, three-part series portraying Orange County's business and investment potential is scheduled to air early this summer in Los Angeles on Channel 18's Japan News Magazine and later on two major networks in Japan.

InterContinental Hotels Group, the world's biggest lodging company by number of rooms, took over the operation of a 363-room hotel in Century City, bolstering its presence in the U.S. luxury hotel market. The InterContinental Los Angeles Century City, previously the Park Hyatt, has 12,500 square feet of space for functions. Windsor, England-based InterContinental Hotels Group has a 10-year contract to manage the hotel on Avenue of the Stars. The hotel is owned by Tokyo-based Sumitomo Realty.

The Irvine-based company, the U.S. arm of Sumitomo Realty and Development Co. of Tokyo, has agreed to pay $500 million for the 41-story building at 666 Fifth Ave. from Integrated Resources, a financial services company, and Cohen Bros. Realty Corp., both based in New York. The purchase price, $365 a square foot, was described as "top dollar" by a Manhattan real estate broker.

Sumitomo Life Realty (N.Y.) Inc., advised by Richard Ellis Inc., has purchased 800 Wilshire Blvd., a 16-story, 216,000-square-foot office building, from a partnership of Peck/Tooley Wilshire Associates and the Noro Group of Companies. The buyer is a U.S. subsidiary of Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. Ltd., one of Japan's largest life insurance firms. The sale price was not disclosed, but industry sources said it was about $45 million.

Japan's third-largest real estate company and the U.S. subsidiary of its second-largest builderare among the investors who bought Coldwell Banker Commercial Real Estate Group last week, a signal that Japanese investors may no longer be content to merely buy U.S. office buildings or finance them. Kajima Construction Co. and Sumitomo Realty & Development Co. have joined several other U.S. and foreign investors to buy the brokerage firm from Sears, Roebuck & Co.

Another choice piece of Los Angeles real estate--the newly opened, luxury J. W. Marriott Hotel in Century City--has been quietly sold to a Japanese realty and development firm for $85 million. Sumitomo Realty of New York purchased the 375-room, 17-story building and certain leases on the property, according to Jonathan Q. Loeb, general manager of the J. W. Marriott. However, Marriott Corp. of Bethesda, Md., retains ownership of the land and continues to manage the luxury facility as a Marriott.